Revision of UNION WAR BOOK of India is a sign ?

NEW DELHI: The government has quietly gone in for a major revision of the Union War Book, a classified voluminous document which lays down the exact role each government ministry, department and wing will play in times of war, to better reflect the current security scenario and ground situation.

The revision in the Union War Book even came up for mention during the annual combined commanders' conference, attended by PM Manmohan Singh and other senior ministers, which ended here on Tuesday.

"The entire government machinery, from the armed forces to the railways, civil aviation, shipping, surface transport, health and the like, has to be mobilised in the event of a war,'' said a top official.

"Times, tactics and doctrines have changed since the Union War Book, which has been in existence since the days of the British Raj, was last revised years ago. Primarily carried out by the defence and home ministries as well as the Cabinet Secretariat, the update caters for all this,'' he added.

The new Union War Book, which is with the Cabinet Committee of Security for the final nod, lays down action plans in minute details to meet any contingency during war.

It spells out, for instance, how air, train and other services will be commandeered in times of national emergency. It also provides the basis for forward deployment of military assets like the movement of a Mirage-2000 fighter squadron from Gwalior to say Ambala or Leh.

"It's the Bible for us. All commanding officers get extracts, marked secret/top-secret, which flow from the Union War Book about where his unit will be stationed and what role it will play during war,'' said an Army officer.

The Union War Book was last taken up for implementation during Operation Parakram, the 10-month-long forward troop mobilisation launched in the aftermath of the December 2001 terrorist attack, when India almost went to war with Pakistan.

Since then, with the armed forces themselves revising their doctrines, the need was felt to also revise the Union War Book. The Army, for instance, learnt the harsh lesson that slow mobilisation of its strike formations -- it took almost a month for them to mobilise at the `border launch pads' -- would no longer do. Instead, the strategy should be to mobilise fast and strike hard.

And now, as was first reported by TOI, the Army war doctrine is undergoing yet another revision to effectively meet the challenges of a possible `two-front war' with China and Pakistan in a worst-case scenario, deal with asymmetric and fourth-generation warfare, enhance strategic reach and joint operations with IAF and Navy. The revision in the Union War Book is in keeping with the times.